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A white paper released recently by the Chinese Communist Party on the state of the nation contains the usual admixture of bluster, self-aggrandizement and self-victimization. From its discussion of topics from poverty and prosperity to human rights, the environment and social safety nets, the CCP has pulled out all the stops to generate as much emotional fervor as possible. The paper is replete with repetitive, well-worn CCP slogans, like "socialism with Chinese characteristics," (CCP code for "we can say and do whatever we want") worthy of a swelling 1950s propaganda film. But does reality square with the report's lavish verbal illustrations?
The CCP has a long history of huabing, or creating imaginary paintings of cakes, that can only be looked at, not eaten. This report offers more of the same.
According to the report, the CCP's decades-long goal of "moderate prosperity" has been achieved now that the annual average income nationwide has reached 32,189RMB, the equivalent of about $5,000. Not mentioned in the white paper are statistics recently cited by prime minister Li Keqiang, the nation's second in command, indicating that some 600 million people in China earn less than 1,000RMB (about $156) a month, and a total of 900 million earn less than 2,000RMB (about $313) a month.
Clearly, averages can be misleading, especially in a society with a financially bloated princeling class. And is the official average of 32,189RMB even a living wage?
Conspicuously absent from the report is any discussion of a factor that, one would think, would be necessary in determining a sense of "prosperity": the cost of living. This is likely no accident. Millions of citizens face a daily struggle to survive precisely because of the outrageous, top-down CCP policies that make a mockery of the party slogan "serve the people."
Take for example, an elderly man living in a village in Shandong Province. In a video posted online, he described how officials ripped out his stove, leaving him to spend most of his winter days in bed to keep warm. "My house is so very cold," he says. "You say you 'serve the people' but who are you serving? You serve your money, you serve your own power."
His anger and suffering is shared by many. In recent years, the CCP has banned home cooking stoves that use coal or forage fuels like wood or dried leaves, purportedly to meet climate change goals (even as it continues to build coal plants). But, as many report online, it did so without providing funding to purchase cleaner fuel or the stoves that burn them. Cooking stoves and the kang beds they are sometimes connected to are often the only source of heat for northern villages in winter.
The task of depicting the reality of living conditions in a country controlled by an authoritarian regime borders on the absurd. In cities outside the media spotlights of Beijing and Shanghai, the challenges of getting by from day to day defy the CCP's empty, blanket averages. Even for those who have the proper residency permits that ostensibly allow access to government services, safety nets are meagre at best. In a number of lower-tier cities, residents line up for hours to take advantage of store promotions like 2RMB (about $0.30) off the price of a dozen and a half eggs.
The crux of the problem with the white paper—and the CCP—lies in the section titled, curiously, "Expanding People's Democracy." How can those living under what I call the occupation of the CCP, who have never seen a ballot in their lives, be said to "enjoy" what the white paper calls "extensive, full and genuine democracy," or be "masters of their country, society and future?"
Thankfully, outside of China's fire-walled borders we can speak openly about the long and painful history of democratic suppression in China, including the 100 Flowers Movement in the 1950s, the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, the Rights Defense Movement of the 2000s, the recent Hong Kong democracy movement and more. We can expose the truth of life under the CCP by reporting about activists and lawyers who are detained or disappeared or killed. We can talk about religious minorities locked up and suppressed, about environmental degradation and about forced prison labor. In fact, we can even talk about the shortcomings of our own democratic societies—because getting to the truth is fundamental to achieving a more just and equitable world.
Not long ago, netizens were passing around an essay apparently written by a student in China for a test. "The best place to live is inside China Central TV," it reads. "There's no poverty, no injustice, and society is already moderately prosperous. The government and the people are close, society is harmonious and safe, and life is auspicious and happy."
I couldn't agree more. In the CCP's picture of the world, the cakes—especially the painted ones—are always much bigger, but have only nourished the regime in its quest for power. As for the Chinese people, how much longer can a still-life stave off hunger?
Chen Guangcheng is a Chinese civil rights lawyer and activist and a distinguished visiting fellow at the Institute for Policy Research at The Catholic University of America.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
